Spiti Valley Tour Package 6 Nights 7 Days

To the Last Village: Chitkul is 25 km further up the Baspa at 11,320 ft, the last inhabited settlement before the Tibet border. Slate-roofed wooden houses, a small Mathi temple, and a river you can walk down to.

Across to Kalpa: Afternoon drive to Kalpa, roughly 60 km, climbing the far side of the Sutlej valley. Kalpa faces the Kinner Kailash range head-on across the gorge.

• Top Places to Cover: Chitkul, Baspa riverbank, Mathi temple, Reckong Peo, Kalpa village.
• Importance of Each Place: Chitkul marks the end of the old Indo-Tibet trade route on this side. Kinner Kailash at 19,850 ft is considered a winter home of Shiva, and the 79-ft rock formation near its summit is circumambulated on an annual parikrama.
• Things to Know: Chitkul is cold at any time of year and there is almost no mobile signal. The last dependable ATM is at Reckong Peo, just below Kalpa.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Overnight: Kalpa

Where Two Rivers Meet: At Khab the Spiti river joins the Sutlej, and this is where the landscape changes completely. Trees stop. The slopes go from green to brown and grey within a few kilometres.

Nako and Sumdo: Nako village sits beside a small lake at 11,900 ft with a monastery founded in the 11th century. Sumdo is the checkpoint where Kinnaur formally ends and Spiti begins.

Tabo: Tabo Monastery was founded in 996 CE and is the oldest continuously functioning Buddhist enclave in the Indian Himalaya. Its halls are mud brick, not stone, and the wall paintings inside are often called the Ajanta of the Himalaya.

• Top Places to Cover: Khab confluence, Nako lake and monastery, Sumdo, Tabo Monastery, Tabo caves.
• Importance of Each Place: Tabo holds murals and stucco figures more than a thousand years old, preserved by the dry cold. The Dalai Lama has said he would like to retire here.
• Things to Know: Photography is prohibited inside the Tabo assembly halls. Carry a torch; the interiors are lit only by small windows and butter lamps.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Overnight: Tabo

Dhankar: The monastery sits on a crumbling spur above the Spiti and Pin confluence at 12,774 ft, and was the capital of the Spiti kingdom. The building is visibly eroding, which is why a newer monastery has been built below it.

Dhankar Lake: A steep hour on foot above the monastery, if you are acclimatised enough to want it.

Kaza: Spiti main town at roughly 12,500 ft. Rest here. Altitude is now a genuine factor and the rest of the trip depends on how you handle tonight.

• Top Places to Cover: Dhankar Monastery, Dhankar Lake, Pin valley viewpoint, Kaza old town.
• Importance of Each Place: Dhankar means fort on a cliff, and it served as both monastery and citadel. The World Monuments Fund has listed it among the world most endangered sites.
• Things to Know: Drink far more water than feels necessary. Avoid alcohol tonight. If you get a headache, tell your driver rather than waiting to see if it passes.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Overnight: Kaza

Key Monastery: Stacked in tiers on a conical hill at 13,668 ft, Key is the largest monastery in Spiti and the image most people carry of the valley. Around a thousand years old, rebuilt repeatedly after fires, Mongol raids and earthquakes.

Kibber and Beyond: Kibber sits at 14,200 ft with a wildlife sanctuary above it that holds one of the densest snow leopard populations anywhere.

The Fossil Villages: Langza has a large Buddha statue looking over barley fields where marine fossils turn up in the soil, left from when this was the Tethys seabed. Hikkim runs the world highest post office at 14,567 ft. Komic, at 15,027 ft, claims the highest motorable village with a monastery.

• Top Places to Cover: Key Monastery, Kibber, Langza, Hikkim post office, Komic, Chicham bridge.
• Importance of Each Place: The fossils at Langza are genuine evidence that the Himalaya were once ocean floor. The Hikkim post office has been run by the same postmaster for decades and letters can take weeks to arrive, which is rather the point.
• Things to Know: Post a card from Hikkim - buy stamps in Kaza first, they often run out. Chicham bridge is the highest suspension bridge in Asia and worth the short detour.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Overnight: Kaza

Over the Pass: West out of Kaza and up to Kunzum La at 14,931 ft, the watershed between Spiti and Lahaul. There is a temple to Kunzum Mata at the top and drivers circle it before crossing.

The Rough Track: From the pass a rough track drops toward Chandratal. The last stretch is unpaved and the drive is the hardest of the trip.

Chandratal: A crescent lake at 14,100 ft, about 2.5 km around, changing colour through the day from steel to deep blue. Camping is only permitted about 3 km from the shore under conservation rules.

• Top Places to Cover: Kunzum La, Kunzum Mata temple, Chandratal lake, Batal.
• Importance of Each Place: Kunzum La is one of the highest motorable passes in India and closes under snow for over half the year. Chandratal is a Ramsar-listed high-altitude wetland and its protection rules are strictly enforced.
• Things to Know: Nights at Chandratal drop below freezing even in July. Camps are basic with no electricity or running water. Where the Batal road is shut we stay at Batal or Chhatru instead, and no refund is due for the change.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Overnight: Chandratal camp or Batal

Down the Chandra Valley: Through Batal and Chhatru, following the Chandra river. This section is river crossings and loose rock rather than road, and it is slow.

Through the Mountain: At Gramphu you join the Manali highway and drop through the Atal Tunnel - 9.02 km under the Rohtang massif, which turns what used to be a five-hour pass crossing into ten minutes.

Manali: The tour ends at Manali. Onward transfer to Delhi can be arranged on request.

• Top Places to Cover: Batal, Chhatru, Gramphu, Atal Tunnel, Solang valley, Manali.
• Things to Know: The Chandra valley track floods with meltwater in the afternoon, which is why this leg starts early. Book onward travel from Manali for the following day rather than the same evening.

Meals: Breakfast | Overnight: Journey ends at Manali